Several things aren't a rare sight in St. George, like passing a large group of bicyclists while traveling along Red Hills Parkway or noticing more vehicles on the road and in parking lots on the weekend.

But perhaps the more rare sights are events catered toward residents and tourists who appreciate nightlife, like concerts or dancing along with live music. What do you do when you're all dressed up with nowhere to go on the weekend in St. George?

Maybe it's not the first Friday of the month, or maybe it's not Monday or Wednesday night karaoke at the One and Only. What if you want to go out to hear some live music but don't want to sit at a restaurant while you listen? Where do you go?

Jazzy Java Rock 'n' Roll Grill is the only live music venue that regularly provides a stage for local and touring bands. While Jazzy's is also a venue that relies on its food and drink sales as a revenue stream, it has branded itself as the go-to place to hear a variety of bands within the rock genre several times per week. But Jazzy's wasn't built to house large concert crowds.

The rise in local bands in our area has led to a rise in interest in live music events, which in turn has some talking about the potential for an additional concert space.

What the research shows

St. George Mayor Jon Pike says there aren't a lot of nightlife opportunities in St. George, but the entertainment everyone can count on each month for the past year and a half or so has been Georgefest.

"It's paving the way for other events to be able to happen," Pike said.

Some preliminary results of a survey conducted by a graduate class at Southern Utah University show that Georgefest attendance has increased in more than one age group, which has Melynda Thorpe, Georgefest founder and executive director, thinking that it's not just the city's youth who are interested in more nightlife.

According to the survey, live music is the No. 1 factor that contributes to attendance at events, with 84 percent of respondents saying music is what draws them in. Additionally, when asked what types of night life events appeal most to them, Thorpe said an overwhelmingly amount of respondents said music concerts was the No. 1 response.

"Live music really is a draw in our community; it's right at the the top," Thorpe said.

According to Roxie Sherwin, director of the St. George Tourism Office, tourism in Washington County increased 13 percent last year, but she also said her staff doesn't focus its efforts on bringing people in for the city's nightlife.

However, Ryan Groskreutz, who books bands for Jazzy's and previously co-owned his own music venue in St. George, said the music scene has only recently seen an uptick in concert attendance. He referred to the old Electric Theater — which used to host concerts and dances before it turned into an art gallery — as the "zenith" of the Southern Utah music scene.

The Electric Theater hosted several bands that went on to become relatively well-known in the rock genre. Groskreutz said part of that was the national rise in punk music's popularity. But there are a lot of elements that factor into the cycles of local music, especially in a small town.

What's worked

Thorpe said she collaborated very closely with city leaders and went through months of surveying to ensure Georgefest was strongly based around the community.

"The city leaders were excited about what it would offer to a broad demographic in our community," she said. "It's so important to not ignore what we know about the community but to take that information and build from that a new venue."

The information comes from lots of strategic planning and research, Thorpe said. Specifically with Georgefest, the event filled entertainment holes in the community, especially with the implementation of the Desert Pulse Jazz Garden, which serves as a beer and wine garden as well as venue for live music.

Georgefest operates under the city's special event permit, which Thorpe said gives event organizers the option to select specific needs for the event, like dancing. She also had to submit an event proposal that Thorpe said was detailed in that it explained what types of entertainment it was seeking. Additionally, Thorpe said organizers had to negotiate some other details, like street performers, acting or playing for tips. The organizers negotiated that street performers would fall under the event's overall city permit.

Jazzy's does so well because it's able to accommodate the size of the music scene at this point in time, Groskreutz said, but it has little room to grow.

For Alex Lambson, a Jazzy's regular, his biggest complaint about the current venue is its size. Lambson said he enjoys going to metal shows, but the small space is a bit too enclosed to truly enjoy the sound.

"Sometimes the drums are so loud at the metal shows because it's an enclosed space," Lambson said. "If there was a Jazzy's that was twice as big, that would be ideal. If they started bringing bands with different genres to Jazzy's, I think there would be enough people."

While Georgefest's success had much to do with positive interactions with city leadership, Thorpe said it hasn't all been easy-going.

What hasn't worked

When trying to orchestrate an event at a venue that has not been permitted properly for the event, Pike said that's where it gets complicated.

Additionally, Thorpe said Georgefest organizers had the most difficulty around the insurance requirements of the city, which she said are "extremely conservative."

"The amount that is required for coverage is very high," Thorpe said. "Because of that, it's more difficult to hold this event in St. George than it would be in a neighboring city because the insurance requirements are so high and stringent ... There's always been problems there."

The idea behind the GOGO37, Groskreutz said, was that it would become a designated art space; they would rent out the venue during the day to artists, yoga teachers, or nondenominational church services so it wasn't dependent on music to drive its revenue.

"Basically, the city came back and told me that if I did pursue anything outside of that general scope of music and art as a dedicated gallery space, they would pull my license," he said. "That's where the struggle with them started, which I knew was going to be an uphill battle to begin with."

The infamous "dance issue" in St. George also caused the venue some unrest, Groskreutz said, adding that a "very specific code" goes along with the dance licensure.

Chief Building Official Joel Shaffer said it's much easier to permit a building that's designed for a certain occupancy, like an auditorium, since it's already figured into the code. There are several nuances that go into new building permits, which a new music venue may or may not fall into, like site requirements including a specific number of parking stalls and a specific color of building for presentation purposes.

"It should not be hard for us to work together with owners and operators who want to do something," Pike said. "It should be very simple to do, it's just a matter of wanting to make sure we're safe, physically and financially."

"Why does any city or municipality make so much of an effort to control something like that?" Groskreutz asked. "It's always felt like they were so concerned about not letting there be movement at shows, which in reality, a lot of that liability should go to the business owner, in my opinion. There are insurance concerns, which make sense, but at the same time, that should fall on the business owner."

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Local St. George post-hardcore band Telestial is Richard Curl, Jade Whitlock, and Allen Hutter.(Photo: Emily Havens / The Spectrum & Daily News)

Moving forward

With proper collaboration between the city and event organizers or business owners, Thorpe said she believes the community is ready to support several night life niche events.

"There are some very progressive city council members and city leaders," Thorpe said. "When they find something the community wants or needs, they find a way to make it happen. It might be slower or more deliberate than, as an organizer, you'd like it to be, but they've been open and progressive to more ideas we've brought forward."